Pioneer Releases New DJ Technology

DJing with vinyl will always be around as an alternative way to DJ, while also being a classic past time. As music technology advances it has opened more ways for creativity and innovation, and now the modern ways of DJing are about to get even better.

Pioneer will released their next generation of the CDJ-2000 NXS2 and DJM-900 NXS2 mixing equipment on January 12th, 2016. But before we jump into the new hardware, lets take a look at some of the old mixing hardware of the past from Pioneer.

The Rise of the DJ

Back in the day (early 1990’s) DJ’s would mix two songs on vinyl, and beat match the two songs in their head to sync them up to be on the same time signature so it sounds pleasant to the ears. Today there is technology that pretty much does it for you. But being a DJ is not just about beat matching two songs up anymore. It requires much more. A DJ must be able to entertain the crowd by selecting the right songs, engage with the crowd, and much more.

The CDJ is a model type of CD player made by Pioneer DJ, a subsidiary company of the Pioneer corporation. The first version of the CDJ was released in 1992 labeled the CDJ-300.

The CDJ-300 was a prototype. Which obviously had huge success, As it lead to the manufacturing of the Pioneer CDJ-400, CDJ-800, CDJ-900, CDJ-1000, and the best CDJ, the CDJ 2000. The CDJ 1000 and the CDJ 1000MK2 (mark 2) are very popular models. The CDJ 2000 is mostly what all nightclubs use.

The DJM is a model type of mixer that routes audio signals for CDJ’s and more music hardware/components. There are many different models of the DJM mixer, The DJM-300, DJM-400, DJM-500, DJM-600, DJM-700,DJM-750, DJM-707, DJM-800, DJM-850, DJM-900 nexus, DJM-909, DJM-1000 and the DJM-2000. Of these some are digital mixers and others are analog mixers.

Analog or Digital?

Just like there are digital and analog audio signals, There is also analog and digital mixers.

The Different Between Analog and Digital

The different between analog and digital is that analog tends to sound more natural to the ears. While digital tends to sound more computerized and exact. The ear naturally, does not like to hear things exact. The ear is more interested in things that sound unique. Pioneer makes both analog and digital mixers.

Digital Mixers

Analog Mixers

The DJM-300, DJM-500, DJM-600*, DJM-707, and DJM-909 are all analog mixers. With the exception of the DJM 707 having digital FX. Besides the DJM mixers there are also many other professional brands like Allen and Heath, An audio mixing console manufacturer in England who makes high end DJ mixers for nightclubs. Deadmau5 has been known to use the Allen and Heath Xone 4D mixer for live performances on his laptop DAW. Mostly because the Xone 4D is one of few mixers to have MIDI mapping features.

Pioneer’s Next Generation of DJ Hardware NXS2

More than 23 years has passed since the first model of the CDJ’s was released, and it looks like Pioneer feels its due for an upgrade.

In a video labeled #NXS2, after the Pioneer Nexus line, Pioneer tasks DJ Kaskade and Erick Morillo to introduce the new hardware update. The video is mostly all video blurs and quick cuts to hide the new equipment.

This hardware update will likely present another epic revolution in how music is played live to audiences in nightclubs and at EDM festivals. From the video it sounds like there is many new features, such as new pitch FX, a possibility of lossless playback with FLAC, and maybe even new EQ effects. But again, its hard to tell from the very short and shaky teaser video. The full reveal is January 12th, 2016.